Archive for the ‘Donald Trump’ Category

After President Trump Tells Proud Boys To Stand By, Donald Trump Jr. Says His Father Doesnt Support White Supremacy – CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) Donald Trump Jr. says his father is ready and excited to take the debate stage again.

(Photo Credit: KDKA)

In a one-on-one interview with KDKAs Meghan Schiller, President Donald Trumps son said his father did not get a fair shake during the first presidential debate on Tuesday.

My father is a fighter. I think hes fought for the American people, Trump Jr. said. Thats why we see the results that you see for America.

During a media tour on Wednesday, Trump Jr. said he still has not had a chance to talk to his dad following the debate.

Schiller: If you could have texted your dad any advice during the debate last night, what would you have said to him?

Trump Jr.: His policies are so good, I think he could have gone into more detail on that. It is sort of hard when the moderator is interrupting you.

The president claims that he debated both Joe Biden and Fox News moderator Chris Wallace, tweeting a picture after the debate.

Joe Biden has been talking about concepts for 47 years, but he hasnt actually gotten anything done, Trump Jr. said. Ask your viewers, if youre on the fence, name a Joe Biden accomplishment?

Bidens supporters did take issue when President Trump told the far-right Proud Boy to stand by.

Schiller: Does your father support white supremacy?

Trump Jr.: Of course not, he literally said it twice. Last week alone, he denounced the KKK as a domestic terrorist organization. Hes said this a thousand times. So he was asking for clarification after literally affirmatively agreeing that, of course, they are to be denounced.

On Wednesday, the commission that oversees the debates said it will make changes in the wake of the chaos that happening Tuesday night.

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After President Trump Tells Proud Boys To Stand By, Donald Trump Jr. Says His Father Doesnt Support White Supremacy - CBS Pittsburgh

Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis: Americans react with anger, frustration and lack of concern – Sky News

People in the New York neighbourhood where Donald Trump grew up know only too well that COVID-19 doesn't discriminate.

In six months more than 33,000 people have died with the virus in New York and more than 6,000 in the borough of Queens - the city's worst-hit area.

Elmhurst Hospital in Queens was at the epicentre of New York's outbreak. The scenes were described by staff as apocalyptic. It was so overwhelmed with patients that refrigerated lorries were brought in to store the dead.

Perhaps little surprise there was a sense of frustration from hospital staff to news the president has tested positive.

"He's acting like he's immune, like he's a superhero. He's a normal regular person," said healthcare worker Angel Candelario. "America's supposed to consider itself a superpower. Right now, it doesn't look like it."

This has all come at a deeply testing and tense time for America, and just a month from the presidential election. The country has lost more people than anywhere else in the world to COVID-19 - more than 207,000 lives, accounting for more than 20% of global deaths.

You don't need to go far in Queens to meet someone who has lost a loved one to COVID-19 - and many lost patience with the president's handling of the crisis months ago.

"It's very scary. He should have found a safer way and used his mask," said hospital worker Audrey Murphy. "If the president has COVID, it gives a bad outlook for everybody else.

"I lost a lot of people that I work with and friends and family. And I just think it should have been handled in a better way."

The president politicised face masks early on in the pandemic, only endorsing them four months into the crisis. Even then he has only personally been seen in public two or three time wearing a mask - instead, he opts for daily testing and has often referred to himself as the most tested person in America. But testing doesn't protect from the virus.

Now, Mr Trump's diagnosis undermines his positive spin on the pandemic and a core message of his election campaign that America is through the worst of the pandemic.

What will be telling is how his positive test is received by swathes of Americans who believe the threat of coronavirus is being exaggerated to hamper his re-election.

Len Swanson first met Sky News at an anti-masking rally in Texas. He calls himself the face of the resistance to coronavirus measures and is unconcerned by the president's illness.

"Yes your prime minister got sick but he's not Donald Trump," Mr Swanson told Sky News.

"Donald Trump has kept himself in better health conditions than your prime minister did. We're not concerned with our president. I know he's got the same attitude and resolve as I do.

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"He is right now conducting meetings. He's on Zoom meetings. He's on the telephone now. He's not sitting in bed. He's being the president... It's a hoax. It's a virus, yes, but it has been politicised as a weapon to strike fear in order to try to derail the Trump government."

The reality is we don't know what Mr Trump is doing right now. This is a narrative some of his supporters want to believe - that coronavirus is a hoax and that the commander in chief is still actively at the helm running the country from quarantine. In the coming weeks the reality could be very different if the president's health deteriorates.

This is a crucial moment in the election cycle - and one of the most testing years in American history. The president's health has now thrown the country into yet more uncertainty.

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Donald Trump's coronavirus diagnosis: Americans react with anger, frustration and lack of concern - Sky News

Stephen Colbert Takes the High Road on Donald Trumps COVID Comeuppance – Vanity Fair

Sounding, at first, a little like Dante from Clerks, Stephen Colbert opened Friday nights monologue reminding us he wasnt even supposed to be there. (The show rarely tapes on Friday.) But the Late Show host rose to the challenge of remaining funny and maintaining opposition to Donald Trump without seeming indecent after news broke of the president testing positive for coronavirus.

His 12-minute monologue does get some zings in, but only after a while. He opened with a wink-free declaration that this is a serious moment for our nation, and we all wish the President and the First Lady of the United States a speedy and a full recovery. He then pivoted to soft targets, like Texas politician and former physician to the president Ronny Jackson for his weird tweet about comorbities and Trump being asymptotic.

Colbert slowly allowed himself to get a little angry over images of Trump in the presence of servicemen and operators of Marine One. With a lighter-than-usual touch, Colbert began outlining how Trumps negligence continues to put innocent people in harms way.

Considering just how much news erupted on Friday, Colberts monologue was an important reminder of some key facts. One such item is that Trumps key aide Hope Hicks was feeling ill on Wednesday, and Trump knew of her diagnosis by Thursday morning, but no one thought to alert people who had been in her presence. Indeed, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany, who had been in contact with Hicks, led her daily press conference, maskless, without any knowledge of her potential exposure.

Colbert also reminded that Trump attended his Bedminster, New Jersey fundraiser aware of his exposure to Hicks. Many people may become sick, but at least we got to hear the late night hosts Thurston Howell III impression.

He wrapped it up (after mentioning the 30,500 percent spike in searches for the word schadenfreude) by once again wishing the president well, mostly because it is important that the most powerful man on the planet be in his best possible condition, for all of our sakes.

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Stephen Colbert Takes the High Road on Donald Trumps COVID Comeuppance - Vanity Fair

In the Coronavirus, Donald Trump Has Met His Matcha Reality That Won’t Budge to Alternative Facts – Mother Jones

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.

If your morning (or late night) was anything like mine, it was consumed with speculation about what it means that the president has tested positive for coronavirus. Thats a natural impulse, and cable hosts and social media pundits will continue obsessing over the tiniest clues from a White House that has consistently revealed too little, too late.

But what has stuck with me this morning is the point my colleague David Corns makes herethat were dealing with two diseases: Coronavirus, and disinformation.

One of the best weapons to deploy against a killer virus is accurate informationthat is, the truth, David writes. If the public is fully and well informed about the dangers and the best counter-measures, the better the chances this threat can be arrested. Instead, the president is one of the worlds leading disinformation agents. And given that Trump has demonstrated he will do practically anything to win reelectionbelittle a pandemic, appeal to racism, encourage confrontation and possible violence, make false charges of voting fraud, use Russian disinformation, debase the discourse, place his own supporters at risk, and crassly exploit the White House and US government agenciesthere is no reason to expect he will be honest with the voters about any aspect of the White House coronavirus crisis.

David is rightand one of the grimmest aspects of this moment is that the victims of Trumps denialism, already numbering in the millions, now include the president himself. In the coronavirus, Donald Trump has met his matcha reality that wont budge to alternative facts. The virus isnt susceptible to bullying, lying, or gaslighting, instead it thrives on all of these. You can call public health policy a hoax and masks oppressive, you can muzzle the scientists and rhapsodize about how it goes away. The virus doesnt care.

The president hasnt had a lot of experiences like that. His enablers and his own narcissism have always worked to create a bubble of self-serving fictions for him, a bubble rarely pierced by reality. In Trumps alternate universe, the pandemic is under control, and the biggest threat to Americans were antifa super-soldiers and low-income housing marring the lives of suburban housewives. In that world, only one thing is consistent: Whatever the problem, only Donald Trump can solve it.

But the virus doesnt care. And every once in a while, weve seen Trump catch a glimpse of that. Thats the voice you hear on the Bob Woodward tapes: The germaphobe president riffing about how you dont have to touch things, but the air? You just breathe the air, thats how its passed, and so thats a very tricky one.

Those words have a grim resonance now. Trump has not shown compassion for the hundreds of thousands of Americans killed by a pandemic he could have done much to thwart. But that doesnt mean compassion must be denied him. As he battles the illness, we can wish him a speedy recovery. But we can also not forget the lethal consequences of his actions for so many others who have not had access to the kind of care he will receive.

Theres one thing you can count on at this confusing moment: Mother Jones journalists like David will be on the job, unfazed by the chaos of the headlines, focused on cutting through the fog of disinformation. Well keep you posted as we can. Meanwhile, please, please, stay safe and well.

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In the Coronavirus, Donald Trump Has Met His Matcha Reality That Won't Budge to Alternative Facts - Mother Jones

Donald Trump 2016 calls BS on Donald Trump 2020 – The Arizona Republic

Opinion: To divert attention from his inept pandemic response, Trump has reverted to his 2016 rhetoric. Call him on it.

President Donald Trump(Photo: Susan Walsh, AP)

This is Donald Trump speaking at the Republican National Conventionfour years ago.

He said, Our Convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation. The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.

Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of violence in our streets and the chaos in our communities. Many have witnessed this violence personally, some have even been its victims.

He continued, I have a message for all of you: the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on January 20th 2017, safety will be restored.

So, what happened?

That sounds exactly like Donald Trump speaking in 2020. What happened to safety being restored beginning January 20th 2017?

Because instead of fixing the problem, Trump appears to have made it worse.

On purpose.

Not long ago, Trump said, Im the only thing standing between the American dream and total anarchy, madness and chaos.

Really?

If thats true, after four years in office, it's an admission of failure.

Unless, of course, all that talk about madness and chaos isnothing but campaign rhetoric meant to divert attention from Trumps bungled pandemic policy that has seen six million Americans infected and more than 180,000 killed.

And counting.

Trump has no interest in calming any of the recent civic unrest. Hes not trying to prevent madness and chaos. Hes trying to create it. He believes he needs it to win the election. He is, as Rolling Stone called him recently, the no lives matter president.

Trump wants trouble. He wants chaos. Anything to change the subject from his failed pandemic response.

Its why he does things like retweet images and make statements thatessentially to applaud his supporters for shooting paintballs and pepper spray at demonstrators in Portland.

He's willing to putlives in danger.

Trump has a new ad campaign purporting to show what Joe Bidens America will look like. What the ads dont say, of course, is that all of images are taken from demonstrations happening in Donald Trumps America. The hate speech, the support for white supremacists, the violent rhetoric, they are on Trump.

He wants to scare you into voting for him.

Its the exact same campaign he ran four years ago, and since some of you fell for it hes trying it again.

But this time Trump is the one with the record. Hes had four yearsin office. You dont have to imagine Trumps America. Were living it. And if you compare what Trump said in 2016 to what hes saying now you can draw only one of two conclusions.

Either he failed. Or hes lying.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2020/09/14/donald-trump-has-failed-crime-he-lied-according-donald-trump/5790062002/

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Donald Trump 2016 calls BS on Donald Trump 2020 - The Arizona Republic